The Epilogue That Should Have Been
by HappilyNorth
Summary: Yet another alternate epilogue to the Potter series. J.K. Rowling's endgame ships are not preserved and I don't care because I don't like them.


**(Forgot to put this in the first time round... I obviously don't own Harry Potter. Durr.)**_  
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_June 6, 2013_

Ron Weasley pulled up to Harry Potter's house in a borrowed Ford Anglia. He parked the car in the driveway behind a moving van and pulled the key out of the ignition. Lately he'd gotten a lot better at driving, although his wife still saw fit to tease him about it now and again.

He got out of the car and ran around the other side to open the door for her.

"Thank you, love," she said, kissing him quickly on the cheek as she got out as well.

"Why do you never open the door for _me_, Daddy?" his seven-year-old daughter whined as she climbed out of the backset.

"Oh _shut up_, Imogen," her elder brother said. "Dad opens the door for Mum because _she's_ a _lady_. You're just a whiny little brat."

"Daddy!"

"Matthew, please don't terrorize your sister," the children's mother said. "I can take the two of you home, and no one but Daddy will get to see Uncle Harry."

"No!"

"We'll behave, we promise! It's been ages since we've seen him—please, Mum!"

"All right, then, let's go inside."

"I just hope Hermione's not there," Matt continued. "She's sooo boring. She never stops talking about a time when house elves were enslaved and denied their civil rights. I swear, if I have to hear one more 'cautionary tale' about the 'general downward direction of the human race' I'm going to—"

"Unless the end of that sentence is more polite than the beginning, I hope you're not going to finish it," his mother interrupted.

Matt rolled his eyes.

"I think Hermione's really clever," Imogen added as she rang the doorbell.

"Yes, she is," Ron said. "And she's very kind. She's the reason I met your mother."

His wife turned to face him, a puzzled smile on her face. "No she isn't."

"Well, not directly. But if she hadn't broken up with me when she did, I never would have talked to you that day at Gringotts."

"Ew, you _dated_ Hermione?" Matt made a face.

"You're nine years old—how do you even know what dating is?" his mother laughed.

"Only for like two months," Ron said. "One summer. That was about as long as she could put up with me, before she decided she wanted better things. We were terrible together, anyway. Nothing like me and your mum." He put his arm around his wife and kissed the freckles on her nose.

Although Ginny thought she was dull, and Hermione thought she could be a bit thick, Ron wouldn't want to be married to anyone but Cassidy. He loved waking up to her matted red hair and sleepy gray eyes, almost as much as he loved falling asleep holding her soft hand, surrounded by the scent of her vanilla lotion. He loved getting home from his job at the Ministry to be greeted with a tender kiss. He loved helping her cook dinner and he loved the sound of her laugh and he loved raising their children together. He loved her more than anything in the world. His teenage counterpart never could have dreamed of being so happy.

The door opened and Hermione appeared. Her face was sweaty, and her bushy hair was pulled up into a haphazard knot. "Hey guys," she said. "Sorry it took so long to answer the door. Harry and I are still packing."

"Really? It's not like you to leave things to the last minute," Ron said.

Hermione shook her head. "Of course not. It's just the bed left. I had to sleep somewhere last night, didn't I? Come on in and help us bring stuff down to the van." She greeted them all with hugs and led them into the living room. The normally pristine sitting area was stacked to the ceiling with boxes.

"Where are you going, Hermione?" Imogen asked.

"I'm moving out. I'm not going to live with Harry anymore."

Harry appeared at the top of the stairs. "Yeah, she's abandoning me."

"Uncle Harry!" the children screamed, running up the stairs to greet him.

Biologically speaking, Harry wasn't actually their uncle. He had just been around a lot when they were growing up. The kids loved hearing his war stories and taking turns flying on his Firebolt.

"I'm not abandoning you," Hermione insisted, swishing and flicking her wrist to make one of the boxes hover. "I've lived here almost seven years. I think it's high time I got a place of my own."

"But we're such good roommates!"

"Obviously you'd think that, seeing as I'm the one who does all the laundry!"

"Moving in with a woman is a very important step in a relationship, Harry," Cassidy said. She tried to cast Wingardium Leviosa on another box to help Hermione, but Imogen came rushing down the stairs and affixed herself to her mother's leg. "You need to see if you can live with the person. And you can't do that when you have a roommate."

Up until this past week, Harry had been excited about having his partner move in with him. It felt like he was finally being a proper adult with a serious relationship. But now that there was a moving van outside and his living room was full of boxes, it was finally sinking in that he wouldn't be living with his best friend anymore. Also, he wasn't sure if he was ready for this. He had never really gotten to this point with anyone before.

After the war ended, he went through fling after fling, woman after woman, and somehow none of it made him feel complete. He even tried getting back with Ginny for a short while. It didn't take very long for that to end. She had a career as a Quidditch player and was always traveling, and anyway, she didn't fill the gaping hole in his heart that came from not having a family.

Now, even though his heart was whole again, he still felt apprehensive about beginning this new stage in his life. Excited, of course, but nervous all the same. He and Hermione had settled into a routine that was comfortable and tolerable. When he woke up in the morning, he knew what the day would bring. And, although this monotony bored him to tears sometimes, he was used to it, and that was nice.

To help himself, he tried to imagine the house filled with the woman he loved. He thought of scraps of parchment and quills lying around on the tables, half-completed doodles abandoned for a newer and better idea. He thought of the tables scattered with odds and ends and things she'd picked up because she thought they were pretty. He thought of hanging colorful paintings on the wall instead of bookshelves. He thought of exotic plants covering the backyard. He thought of flowers in the kitchen and pillows askew on the couch and climbing into an unmade bed every night, and suddenly, he was grinning ear to ear.

Yes, he was definitely ready for this.

"Hey, Harry, want to wipe that dopey look off your face and come help us? We're breaking our backs over here," Ron called.

"For the last time," Hermione said impatiently, "it's LeviOOOOsa, not Leviosaaaaar. Just use the spell, Ronald, and you won't have to lift a thing."

"Well sorry we can't all be the brightest witch of our age."

By the time Harry made it downstairs, all of the boxes had somehow or other been moved into the truck. He wandered out to the front driveway. Hermione was using her wand to rearrange the contents of the van, and Cassidy was guiding Ron's wrist in a swish and flick motion.

"It's a bit tricky, you know," Ron said. His ears were burning bright scarlet.

"I know it is, dear. I completely understand. I still have trouble summoning things sometimes. It's like they just quit when they're halfway to me."

"Accio Cassidy's brain," Hermione mumbled under her breath. Harry let out a snort.

"Uncle Harry, Uncle Harry!" Imogen ran up to Harry and tugged on his shorts. "Mattie won't let me ride on the broom and it's been my turn for—"

"Wait. Is my son riding a Firebolt unsupervised?" Cassidy bolted into the backyard. Imogen trailed behind her, yelling about how Matt was in trouble.

Harry looked at his two best friends. He realized this was the first time the three of them had been alone together in almost ten years. Before Harry quit his job as an Auror a few months ago, he and Ron sometimes went out for drinks after work... and obviously he saw Hermione every day... but it had been a while since it was all three of them and no one else.

It was a strange thought, because he so clearly remembered when they were inseparable. It used to be rare to see one of them without the other two, and now all three of them were going their separate ways. This was finally happening.

"Look at us," Hermione said. "All grown up and ready to face the world."

"I don't know about you two, but I've been facing the world ever since Matt was born," Ron said with a smirk.

"Not to mention that whole defeating-the-Dark-Lord thing we did when we were barely of age."

"That's nothing compared to taking care of a kid, mate."

And just like that, they were laughing uncontrollably.

Far too soon, they were interrupted by a handsome tawny owl dropping out of the sky and landing on Hermione's shoulder. She opened the letter attached to its leg. Although she rolled her eyes as she read, Harry noticed that she was having a hard time concealing her smile.

"That letter's from Nathan, isn't it?" he asked.

Ron glanced between the two of them. "Who's Nathan?"

"This guy from work," Hermione replied. "He keeps begging me to go out with him because he thinks I'm, like, brilliant... or whatever." She raised the letter to her face, hoping it would hide her red cheeks.

"For goodness sake, just do it!" Harry laughed. "This has been going on for, what, two months now? He's obviously interested. Just go out with the guy."

"Fine. I'll go out with him. But I won't like it." She lowered the parchment to reveal a grin on her face.

"Why not?" Ron asked.

"Because my career is more important to me than dating. You know that. I don't want to get married or—Heaven forbid—have children before everything else in my life is lined up right."

"You're getting dinner with the guy, not starting a family with him," Ron said.

"And what's left to 'line up' in your life?" Harry added. "You're head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and now you're finally moving out of your lazy roommate's place. Ths is a perfect time."

"If you say so," Hermione said. Harry took the blush on her cheeks to be an acceptance of his praise. "I'll write him back later. Once I'm all settled in at the new—at home, I mean. This is going to be so weird."

She turned her head to look across the street, but Harry saw her eyes watering. He crossed the distance between them in one bound and hugged her tightly; she returned the embrace, letting the tears fall on his shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you," she whispered.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'm gonna miss you too."

"Oh, Merlin's shimmering hammer pants!" Ron exclaimed. "You're moving down the street, not to another planet!"

Harry and Hermione broke apart, laughing as they wiped their eyes. "You're right; we're being silly," Hermione said.

"Speaking of silly..."

The trio looked up and saw a very odd-looking parade making its way down the sidewalk. A woman led the procession, guiding a winged horse behind her. Following the horse was something that looked like a person pulling a carriage.

"That's got to be her," Ron said.

And sure enough, Luna Lovegood came into view.

"What the bloody hell—"

"There's no need to be vulgar just because you see something you aren't used to, Ron," Luna said in her usual breezy tone.

"Yeah—if anyone has reason to be vulgar, it's me." Neville Longbottom said. "Luna made me drag this cart all the way here. Said she felt sorry for the thestral. Never mind me."

Just then, Cassidy emerged from the backyard, her children behind her. "Luna, hi! It's lovely to see you, dear. It's been too long."

"Actually, it's only been a couple of weeks. One could argue that it hasn't been long enough."

Cassidy kept smiling, unsure of whether or not she'd just been insulted. Harry, Hermione, and Neville all tried not to laugh.

"Who is that?" Cassidy asked, noticing Neville for the first time.

"This is our friend Neville Longbottom," Hermione said. "He teaches Herbology at Hogwarts. Neville, this is Cassidy Weasley, Ron's wife."

"Nice to meet you." Cassidy extended her hand for a handshake. "These are our children, Matthew and Imogen."

"Pleasure. Luna, where do you want all this stuff?"

"Just put it by the front door. I'll unpack later. The most important thing is to make sure the house is guarded against Umgubular Slashkilters. See, you've taken down the wreath I put on the door."

Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Luna shook her head. "No, no, Harry; I know it wasn't you."

"The honking daffodils made such a racket," Hermione said.

"Only if you touch them."

"Yes, but you can't open the door without—"

"It's in the backyard. Come with me, Luna." Harry took her round the back of the house and raised his eyebrows at Hermione while Luna wasn't looking. Hermione just sighed.

"I'm glad to be moving in with you," Luna said once they were alone. "It feels like I live here already, I spend so much time here. Besides, it's rather lonely living with Daddy. It's sad he's the only family I've got left."

Harry took her hand. "We're a family now, Luna—you and me."

That was the thing about Luna: She made Harry say things he would never say to anyone. He wasn't afraid to voice exactly what he felt. And after years of being manipulated and lied to, pure and simple honesty was the thing he needed most.

Now that she was here, all was well.

**(Author note: Sorry to end it like that, but I couldn't resist... pretty much nothing else in the story is the same as canon, so I kept that bit :P)**


End file.
